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Buy the Asset Sellers

Revenue growth may be hard to come by these days. Look for companies with assets to sell or businesses to unload.

It's not easy to find bargains when U.S. stock prices have soared while revenue growth has slowed, especially since companies that are still growing quickly look expensive. One solution: Look for companies that can grow by shrinking—companies that can fetch higher stock prices by selling off underperforming assets and putting the cash to good use. Consider Dow Chemical, Royal Dutch Shell, General Electric and Time Warner.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 27% this year, but its underlying revenue increased just...